Shrub encroachment and stakeholder perceptions of rangeland ecosystem services: balancing conservation and management?

IF 3.6 2区 社会学 Q1 ECOLOGY
Scott A. Jones, Larry A. Fisher, José R. Soto, Steven R. Archer
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Although the impacts of shrub encroachment on the ecosystem processes have been well-documented, little is known about the extent to which socio-cultural values and perceptions might influence actions undertaken to manage shrub proliferation. Understanding stakeholder values is important because the ecosystem’s capacity to supply a given service or suite of services must be balanced against the value society places on them. Research to date has emphasized supply with little consideration of value, making it difficult to comprehensively or objectively evaluate trade-offs and set priorities, particularly when managing for one particular service or a suite of services that may adversely affect other services. To address this, we conducted a case study in Southern Arizona and New Mexico (USA) to evaluate stakeholder perceptions of and preferences for various ecosystem services provided on semi-arid rangelands where shrub proliferation has impacted traditional livestock grazing. Perceptions of rangeland ecosystem services were elicited via a visually based landscape interpretation while preferences were quantified using best-worst scaling (BWS). Our findings suggest that stakeholders familiar with rangelands and their management generally perceive low shrub cover as providing a wider range of valued ecosystem services compared to rangelands with high shrub cover. Contrary to expectations, ecosystem service preferences in the context of shrub encroachment were generally uniform across all stakeholder groups (e.g., ranchers, state/federal governmental employees, non-governmental land managers, academicians, recreationists), with habitat for biodiversity and erosion control being identified as the most preferred. Accordingly, our results indicate that the widespread perception/assumption that ranchers in this region undertake brush management to enhance livestock production solely for economic gain is seen as too narrow. Our results also suggest an opportunity for brush management to serve as a potential win-win management action if framed as a way to maintain or promote rangeland biodiversity and mitigate erosion.

The post Shrub encroachment and stakeholder perceptions of rangeland ecosystem services: balancing conservation and management? first appeared on Ecology & Society.

灌木侵蚀与利益相关者对牧场生态系统服务的看法:平衡保护与管理?
尽管灌木侵蚀对生态系统过程的影响已被详细记录,但人们对社会文化价值和观念可能在多大程度上影响管理灌木扩散的行动却知之甚少。了解利益相关者的价值观非常重要,因为生态系统提供特定服务或一系列服务的能力必须与社会对这些服务的价值相平衡。迄今为止的研究都强调供应,很少考虑价值,因此很难全面或客观地评估权衡结果并设定优先级,尤其是在管理某项或某组服务时,可能会对其它服务产生不利影响。为了解决这个问题,我们在美国亚利桑那州南部和新墨西哥州进行了一项案例研究,以评估利益相关者对灌木扩散影响传统牲畜放牧的半干旱牧场所提供的各种生态系统服务的看法和偏好。对牧场生态系统服务的认知是通过基于视觉的景观解释来激发的,而偏好则是通过最佳-最差比例(BWS)来量化的。我们的研究结果表明,熟悉牧场及其管理的利益相关者普遍认为,与灌木覆盖率高的牧场相比,灌木覆盖率低的牧场能提供更多有价值的生态系统服务。与预期相反,所有利益相关者群体(如牧场主、州/联邦政府雇员、非政府土地管理者、学者、休闲者)对灌木侵蚀背景下的生态系统服务的偏好基本一致,其中生物多样性栖息地和侵蚀控制被认为是最受欢迎的。因此,我们的研究结果表明,该地区牧场主普遍认为/假定灌木丛管理只是为了提高牲畜产量以获取经济收益,这种看法过于狭隘。我们的结果还表明,如果将灌木丛管理作为维护或促进牧场生物多样性和减轻侵蚀的一种方式,那么灌木丛管理就有可能成为一种双赢的管理行动。
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来源期刊
Ecology and Society
Ecology and Society 环境科学-生态学
CiteScore
6.20
自引率
4.90%
发文量
109
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Ecology and Society is an electronic, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled on the Internet. Software developed for the journal automates all clerical steps during peer review, facilitates a double-blind peer review process, and allows authors and editors to follow the progress of peer review on the Internet. As articles are accepted, they are published in an "Issue in Progress." At four month intervals the Issue-in-Progress is declared a New Issue, and subscribers receive the Table of Contents of the issue via email. Our turn-around time (submission to publication) averages around 350 days. We encourage publication of special features. Special features are comprised of a set of manuscripts that address a single theme, and include an introductory and summary manuscript. The individual contributions are published in regular issues, and the special feature manuscripts are linked through a table of contents and announced on the journal''s main page. The journal seeks papers that are novel, integrative and written in a way that is accessible to a wide audience that includes an array of disciplines from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities concerned with the relationship between society and the life-supporting ecosystems on which human wellbeing ultimately depends.
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